Gehrlicher Solar AG, a German company, has completed its first Bulgarian photovoltaic project, a 1.2 MW project located west of Sofia.
The photovoltaic plant in Kosharevo near Breznik is expected to generate around 1.4 million kW/h of energy annually.
The 1.2 MW photovoltaic plant will receive a feed-in tariff rate of 35.75 euro cents per kWh, the PV Magazine reported.
The German solar company completed construction on the project in June. It is expected to be grid connected...

Bulgarian capital Sofia's real estate market seems to have recovered from the crisis, as it has grown four times more active than in its worst period, according to an analysis prepared by the Bulgarian Address Real Estate company.
Prices are stable in Sofia, according to the company, with properties valued under EUR 50 000 the most sought after among buyers. But even though 45% of all buyers are looking for properties below EUR 50 000, deals worth more than EUR 100 000 are not so rare as...

The number of Bulgarian and foreign tourists, who have visited Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv, has increased significantly.
The data comes from the Tourist Informational Center in downtown Plovdiv, cited by the local daily "Maritsa."
In June 2011, there have been 300 more visitors of the Center, seeking information, compared to June 2010.
In June 2011, people from 44 different countries have visited Plovdiv, mainly from France, the UK, Germany, and the US. They latter have...

Bulgaria's Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, forecasts a 6% economic growth for the last quarter of the 2011.
In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian daily "Trud" (Labor), Djankov says Bulgaria has entered the crisis half a year later than most European countries, thus the recovery is to arrive six months later as well.
The Minister points out Bulgaria is now in its third, consecutive strong quarter in 2011, while the fourth one would be the strongest where growth will certainly reach 6%...

The Plovdiv Appellate Court has overturned the ruling of the Plovdiv Regional Court to annul the two increases of the capital of the International Plovdiv Fair company and to return the majority stake in the Fair to the State.
The latest development came after the Fair's owner, Georgi Gergov, appealed the decision of the Regional Court.
According to the Appellate Court in Bulgaria's second largest city, the two increases of the capital, making Gergov's company "Puldin Tourinvest" owner of...

Bulgarian and Turkish companies aim at reaching annual bilateral trade worth USD 10 B, stated the head of the Turkish-Bulgarian Business Council Yalcin Egemen at a business forum organized during the visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Bulgaria.
At the forum, which attracted over 50 Turkish companies, the President of the Turkish-Bulgarian Business Council, Yalcin Egemen said there is real potential for the trade between the two countries to grow tremendously.
Egemen pointed out...

The border Strandzha Mountain should become a joint Bulgarian-Turkish project for non-material cultural heritage that should seek UNESCO status, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has proposed upon welcoming his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.
"Both countries are tourist destinations, especially Turkey. We need to try to diversify the tourism opportunities. Spa tourism has a very good potential but I would add cultural tourism, which leads to dialogue between civilizations," Bulgarian...

The section of the Hemus Highway connecting it to the Sofia beltway will be built by a Bulgarian-Croatian consortium called Hemus A2.
The 8.5 km section of Hemus, the highway linking Sofia and Varna through Northern Bulgaria, is seen as crucial for unloading the heavy traffic in Sofia's suburban area.
The Hemus A2 consortium was selected after providing the lowest price for the section out of a total of 12 bidders in the tender.
The consortium includes Trace Group Hold, the same...

Several of the so called "high-speed roads" will be added to the list of highways under construction as priority infrastructure projects of the Bulgarian government, according to Road Infrastructure Agency.
The Board Chair of the Road Agency Sergey Mihalev met with representatives of the Bulgarian Branch Chamber "Roads", an association of the businesses active in the field of road infrastructure.
Mihalev has indicated that the highways and the high-speed roads are the government's major...

Bulgaria will hold auctions for a total of six shale gas exploration blocks, said Kristalina Stoykova from the Geological Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS).
Stoykova heads a scientific group in charge of shale gas research in Bulgaria.
In her words, four of the blocks that will be auctioned off are located in North-East Bulgaria and two other in North-Central Bulgaria.
At this stage, US oil and gas giant Chevron has won a contract to carry out shale gas exploration...

A Bulgarian exterior designer, Deyan Denkov, is the author of the design concept of Renault's latest concept car, the Renault Frendzy.
Denkov, a native of Yambol in Eastern Bulgaria, has been working for Renault since 2007, according to the Renault website.
"I took inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including unconventionally shaped aircraft such as the Airbus Beluga and the Antonov 224," Denkov explains, as cited by The Daily Telegraph, adding that the Frendzy is both a business...

The concessionaire of the Bulgarian Black Sea airports Varna and Burgas Fraport Twin Star Airport Management plans to invest BGN 170 M in their modernization in the next 3 years, company CEO Dirk Schusdziara has announced.
Schusdziara has confirmed that Varna Airport will be closed down for unprecedented repairs after the end of the 2011 summer tourist season.
The Varna Airport will be undergoing repairs from October 15, 2011, till February 28, 2012. This is the first time the airport...

Bulgaria's Cabinet is going to invest BGN 30 M in the reconstruction of the military airport near the Black Sea resort of Balchik in order to transform it into a civilian airport.
According to the transcript of the Bulgarian government's meeting on Wednesday, which was released Friday, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ordered the Finance Ministry to allocated BGN 30 M for the reconstruction of the Balchik Airport for civilian purposes.
Borisov's rationale is that the reconstruction will be...

The bids, which were submitted for a section of the future Struma Highway, connecting Sofia to the border with Greece, will be opened on Thursday, the road infrastructure agency announced.
A record number of bidders – 19 – applied with offers to build Lot 1 of the Struma Highway – including companies from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Germany, and Greece.
Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev told journalists a month ago that the builder of Lot 1 will be selected by August, and...

Bulgaria is making definite steps to achieve a fourfold reduction in the amount of natural gas it is buying from Russia, according to an extensive publication by Russian paper Kommersant.
Looking at boosting its own gas production, but also at diversifying imports, Bulgaria hopes to achieve a reduction from the 2 B cubic meters of gas it buys from Russia per annum, to some 500 M cub.m in 2-3 years.
Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy has already declared Bulgaria's intention to give...

Bulgaria's Parliament has approved at second reading the founding of a State Company "Strategic Infrastructure Projects", a mega-structure to be in charge of the construction of three largely neglected highway projects.
The new body created with adopted amendments to the Roads Act will seek to accelerate the construction of "strategic infrastructure projects", namely the Struma Highway (running from Sofia to the border with Greece; expected completion date - 2014), the Hemus Highway (running...

Bulgaria's industrial production increased by 7.8% in May 2011 year-on-year, according to fresh data from the National Statistical Institute.
Bulgaria's extraction industry grew by 20.8% in May 2011 compared with May of last year, while the energy sector grew by 12.7%, and the processing industry (manufacturing) – by 5.9%.
Compared with April 2011, the industrial production in Bulgaria is down 0.5%. The decrease, however, is primarily due to a decline in the energy output by 6%, while the...

Sisecam, Invest, USD, 60, M, More, Glass, Plants,Turkish industrial giant Sisecam is going to invest USD 60 M more in its production facility for household glass in Bulgaria's Targovishte through its subsidiary, Trakiya Glass Bulgaria.
The new investment will expand the existing household glass production line launched in 2005, and will add a second production line in Sisecam's glass factories in Targovishte, which taken together are the largest glass plant in the Balkans.
A total of 200...

Bulgarian National Bank Governor Ivan Iskrov has expressed confidence about the stability of Bulgaria's banking system and the prospects for Bulgaria's economy despite the sovereign debt crisis in Greece.
Speaking at a round table taking place on the sidelines of the "Bank of the Year" ceremony, he emphasized that Bulgaria's capital adequacy stood at 15.36%, or three times over the EU minimum requirements.
According to Iskrov, Bulgaria's banking system includes no bad banks, which means...

Bulgaria's wine exports registered a 6.6% increase in the first quarter of 2011 year-on-year, according to the Bulgarian Executive Agency on Vine and Wine.
In the first three months of 2011, Bulgaria exported a total of 10.375 million liters of wine, about 638 000 liters more than the 9.737 million liters in the first quarter of 2010.
The data of the Executive Agency on Vine and Wine indicate a slight shift in Bulgaria's wine export markets from Western Europe to Russia and the...